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Added 9 October 2026

quiver

/ˈkwɪvə/ noun

In Latin: gōrȳtos, pharetra Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about quiver at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A container for arrows, crossbow bolts or darts, such as those fired from a bow, crossbow or blowgun.
A ready storage location for figurative tools or weapons.
He's got lots of sales pitches in his quiver.
A vulva.

adjective

Nimble, active.

verb

To shake or move with slight and tremulous motion.

noun

The act of quivering.

Origin

From Middle English quiver, from Anglo-Norman quivre, from Old Dutch cocare (source of Dutch koker, and cognate to Old English cocer (“quiver, case”)), from Proto-West Germanic *kokar (“container”), said to be from Hunnic, possibly from Proto-Mongolic *kökexür (“leather vessel for liquids”); see there for more. Replaced early modern cocker, the inherited reflex of that West Germanic word. The mathematical sense originated as German Köcher in a 1972 paper by Pierre Gabriel; it was likely chosen because a quiver contains arrows, while a digraph contains directed edges (also called "arrows").

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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